Halo: Rise
by Niroak
Summary: Three months after the Ark is destroyed John-117, known as Sierra-177 by Pelican pilots and high ranking officers, Demon by the Covenant and Sangheili, and Chief by fellow marines, is stranded along with Cortana on a strange planet, can they escape?
1. Landfall

It had been three months since the end of the Covenant-Human war, three months since Cortana and John-117 had been closed off from their home world, Earth, after destroying the over religious zealots of the Covenant, and the horrible, infectious beings of biomass, the Flood. Now, the _Dawn's _remaining sensors were picking up a planet. Cortana had been able to get the sole reactor on the back end of the ship to work, it provided little power, but power was power.

She was inside the broken _Dawn's_ remaining system, going over limited data banks while on standby. She had sent a distress beacon out three months ago, and still no reply. She knew it might even take years, but if she could save the man she had come to have feelings for, she'd wait. The planet, she could see it now. It was a deep blue, and green patches dotted the surface, but mainly, a steel color covered most areas. The remaining long range scanners indicated the planet had a breathable atmosphere, and life, along with Tier-4 Tech. This was right under Earth's tech tier. This planet could prove to be their way home. She decided to do a quick check of the ship half. They were lucky and had not lost an armory in the split. They also had several HEVs and a Bumblebee.

Her 'mind' wandered to the cyro tank. Should she wake him now? Or wait a bit? Landfall was estimated to be two days at least. She decided she'd wake him from his freeze tomorrow. Going through the armory she found its stock. Four small crates of frag, napalm, smoke and plasmas grenades, C4 packs, several Lotus Anti-tank mines, an M90 shotgun, several BR-55 Rifle, two MA5B assault rifles, a SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, and a...wait? The Dawn had been carrying a M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle? Also there was a Galilean here, commonly referred to as a Spartan Laser.

The Stanchion was about three feet long and weighed twenty kg, with extremely high damage to targets, tens rounds per magazine and fired .21 caliber bullets. It has a max range of 4.5 km and extremely high accuracy, being semi-automatic and firing 9.3 miles per second, or fifteen thousand meters per second.

Cortana took note of the stock, also noticing decent amount of ammo for each, especially for the Stanchion which was strange. The rifle was used during the Insurrection era. Why have one on board? It didn't matter, landfall on the planet was in two days. Shutting down the systems except for the cyro tubes, she decided to rest, or well, what AIs considered rest.

The next day had come. Cortana 'awoke' from her 'rest' and decided to ready the three HEVs and the Bumblee. After readying them she checked the hangar bay, she had forgotten they had it, and several vehicles. Inside of it were four Pelicans, which were mainly used as drop ships and evac units, two Scorpion tanks, which were used for heavy jobs, a Gauss and two mongoosee, the Gauss being able to tear though most materials with easy and the mongoose being super light vehicles, both used for recon and transport mainly. She decided to load the Pelicans up with the vehicles, the machines in the bay lifting the vehicles and attaching them to the Pelican's magnetic clamps.

She moved back to the cyro bay and began the defrosting process. She had been able to close off the room and allow some air into the room. The process wasn't fun, not fun at all.

John cracked his eyes open and the first thing he say was the inside of his visor. He pushed the panel off the tube off and looked at Cortana who was waiting.

"There is enough air in here for ten minutes, long enough for you to get the heating liquids from your lungs." she replied to his look. With that he undid his olive green and battered helmet, and started coughing, a pale blue gel-like liquid coming out of his mouth. He continued to cough for two minutes until he felt that he was clear.

"Status report Cortana?" he questioned the AI, placing his helmet back on and his voice hoarse from being in cyro sleep so long and the forced coughing.

"We're a day away from landfall, we have a decent amount of supplies and vehicles, along with three HEVs and a Bumblebee. I suggest loading them up now. Also, I've uploaded the armory stock into your suits system." she answered to his question.

All he did was nod and float to a sealed door, Cortana freed it and he started kicking off the walls, towards the armory like a professional. Once he reached it he looked around, noting everything Cortana had listed. He looked at the Lotus mines and picked them up, moving towards the grenade crates with them, he opened the crates up and placed the seven mines in the crates and kicked back off the walls, towards the hangar bay. Once he reached the bay he loaded the crates onto the first Pelican and moved back to the armory, once again grabbing what he could. When he was done, all three of the Pelicans had been loaded up as had the HEVs and the Bumblebee, the Pelicans carrying the bulk of the supplies.

He moved back to the console where he slipped Cortana into the system and nodded to her hologram. She moved into the data chip and was removed from the console by John. He inserted her into the back of the olive green armor helmet with ease, her icy presence filling his mind.

"As we hit atmosphere we'll have to wait until we're clear to launch the Pelicans and HEVs, but I'm launching the Bumblebee now." she spoke to him, her voice echoing in his mind.

"OK." he replied back. The loading and readying had taken the last day and they were just caught in the planet's grav well.

"Launching Bumblebee!" A small explosion came from the _Dawn's_ side, the Bumblebee rocketing towards a dot of green on the surface.

"Entering atmosphere! We're stable so far. We're coming to needed altitude...Launching HEVs!" The HEVs were launched with small explosions on the side of the ship, the landing procedures of the vehicles activating once their needed altitudes came.

"All Pelicans are clear! Go!" John pressed forward his Pelicans thrusters, the three remaining pelicans following as they had found a "dumb" AI in one of the HEVs who took control of the others, but after this use, he'd be destroyed because of his programming.

The Pelicans fled from the falling Frigate, the rear cameras catching the fall as it crash landed into an ocean and their armor peeling and cracking slightly as they moved though the intense heat of the hangar bay. The Pelicans located the HEVs and Bumblebees and swooped down towards them, once they had reached three hundred feet though Wilson, the "dumb" AI, 'died' and released the tanks and the mongoose before completely leaving them.

The Pelican crash landed, supplies scattering as the ramp fell open. Externally there was no damage except some dents and some marks, along with the cracks and paint peeling. The supplies though were spilled around the ships, which was mostly ammo, all the guns and grenades had been loaded into the Bumblebee. He landed his Pelican, even though it had been through battles the gray hull was intact with only some dents and burn marks, with the now stripped off paint and slightly cracks.

John exited the Pelican via access ramp and moved to the small mongoose. The Scorpions because of their size and bulk were fine but he was worried about the geese. He inspected it, graciously the only one of the super light recon vehicles was destroyed, one still usable.

The new world was just entering Twilight, and John had food and water, along with the green, flower shaped Bumblebee that could be his shelter. He moved to the severely damaged HEVs and started to drag them to the Bumblebee. Twenty minutes later the HEVs were surrounding the Bumblebee, looking like makeshift guards. He hopped into a Scorpion and moved it towards the Bumblebee, placing it behind the escape pod, forming a small vehicle depot behind the pod. He did the same for the other Scorpion, the Gauss-hog, and the still usable Mongoose. But the destroyed goose he dragged to the side of the pod, leaving it there.

It had been three months but so far, they had found a planet, had water, food, and other supplies, now though it was time to retire to a bed and well, the Bumblebee didn't have one, but did have comfy seats. He lay down on one after locking the pods door, and slipped into a peaceful sleep, he knew that because of his training, any noise breaking the lock or moving a vehicle would wake him. Tomorrow he would go exploring and try to find something, more then likely there would be parties to his site and the crash site of the _Dawn_ also. On the floor and cockpit of the pod was his supplies and on the seats was a lightly sleeping John-117.


	2. They're back

I forgot to put this in my opening Chap :P

I DO NOT own Halo or any characters developed by Bungie.

* * *

The dim sun was just rising over the horizon of the new, strange Planet. An hour earlier though John had loaded up the super light recon vehicle known as a Mongoose with the salvaged Sniper Rifle and a M90 Shotgun. He revved the Mongooses engine and took off, dirt spewing out from behind him.

John looked at the speedometer. He was just now passing ninety-five miles per hour and the structures were coming into view. They proved to be skyscrapers. This confirmed his thoughts of search parties sent out to look for the falling ship, HEVs, and the Bumblebee that just looked like falling off debris.

John had stopped the vehicle next to a strange bush and covered it. He had taken a crouched position on the ground next to the covered recon vehicle and pulled the sniper rifle off of it. The scope on it helped John's vision, even as augmented as it was. Without the scope of the rifle he could barely see to it because of the distance, he didn't want to be so close because of any scanners they had. With the rifle's x10 zoom activated he could see an opening into the city. Yes, it was a city. He could faintly see objects that resembled cars yet they floated. They seemed to be equipped with anti-gravity propulsion systems. At the opening two teams of six...people were organized. The people had Sangheili-like bottoms and their tops were lithe yet muscled and their faces were that of the Earth's panther. They were colored a deep green color and they two of them seemed to be shouting orders. Soon after the orders were done being given out they boarded two vehicles, and that's when John placed the sniper on his back and hopped on the beaten Mongoose, revving it and taking off for his makeshift camp.

"Cortana, could you get a language off their talks or were we too far out?" his question came to the AI, his external speakers off so no one besides Cortana could hear him.

"They seem to be speaking extremely old Latin, I can't code a translator program without more speech though." she answered back, a bit of worry in her voice.

They were coming and he had to be ready for the worst. The trip back took an even twenty minutes. He had to leave the camp, if only for a while. He dropped the Mongoose off and swapped the M90 for his MA5C Assault Rifle. He held onto it tight and took off on foot for the tree line near his camp. If he went on a vehicle they could track him and that was something he didn't want. When he reached the treeline, John placed the rifle on his back next to the sniper and nimbly started to climb the closest tree.

As he had reached the brown barked, moss covered tree top the ship had reached his site and were landing. The ship looked like a torpedo in a sense with four stabilizers on it. One on top, bottom, left, and right. It was a dark yellow and held what seemed to be four guns, two in front, two in back. Two of the Panther-like beings stepped from the machine and were stunned when they how the organization of the camp site.

They started to talk and Cortana was roughly able to translate the old Latin in English.

"Thanks." came from John, his external speakers still off.

"Welcome." came the AI's response and then, he listened in.

"It seems the being that escaped from the ship we have found earlier is alive. This seems to be its camp." The beast growled in a raspy voice.

"It does, Captain." The other Panther-like beast growled back, nodding an affirmative.

The first one, who appeared to be the Captain produced a walkie talkie device and growled into it, another two units emerging from the ship.

"You two! Secure the perimeter, you!" He gestured to the other next to him. "We will start investigating."

The three beasts nodded as two lowered onto all fours and took off in opposite directions, one towards John, and the other to his opposite direction. John stilled his breathing and held still, the creature under his location.

"Chief, I've finished translating, and now when, and if you speak to them, it'll come out in their language." Cortana whispered, even though his speakers were off. All he did was nod an O.K. The creature sniffed but shrugged and continued on. He looked towards his camp and noticed the two ripping the HEVs apart. He didn't need them but still. They noticed the destroyed Mongoose and cringed when they neared it, as it was smoking.

They ignored the other Mongoose and moved to the Scorpion tanks and decided to rip into them also. John wanted to stop them right there but he couldn't, he didn't know if they were friendly, or not. Then they moved to the Gauss-hog and started to look at the single barrel turret.

"John! If you plan on interacting with them, do it now! We don't know what might happen if they get their hands on that kind of tech!" Cortana whispered fearfully in his ear. She was right and he decided it was time to act. He jumped from the tree and landed several meters from now, startled looks on their faces.

"Don't touch the 'Hog." John ordered as he pulled the MA5C from his back and held it tight and pointed at them.

The Pardusvir looked shocked at what had just happened. A green suited being had jumped from the treeline and landed near them, ordering them to stop touching the machine and lifting his weapon. They decided to stop, not knowing what the being was capable of, as he backed up, he pressed a small button on his radio-like device, sending a distress call for the other two to return.

John swept his rifle across the two, eyes trained on them.

"Where am I, and what are you?" he demanded, he wanted to return to Earth, even if it wasn't his true home world.

"You are on Parmundus, and we are Pardusvir. I am Kro." the Panther man responded, his voice calm and steady.

Just then, the other two burst from the bushes, one leaping to his captain's side, the other leaping at John.

"John, behind you!" yelled Cortana, watching his back through his suit's cameras.

John spun and blocked the pounce with his rifle, the Pardus-Vir's claws shredding it. He kicked it in it's midsection, sending it flying. Now he wished he hadn't exchanged for the MA5C and kept the M90. He stood in a loose stance, and watched the two sides.

Mir was mentally taking in the damage. The beast had possibly broken two ribs, but he could still fight. He got up, growling. Meanwhile the Captain, Kro, was trying to asses the Beast's strength, he had blocked his one of his warriors and had spent him flying. Mir got back up, snarling and pounced again. A claw struck John but barely lowered his shields and he punched the creatures in it's stomach, suspending it in midair. He kicked it back, the creature landing with a sickening thud.

John was ticked. These panther men were annoying, the Sangheili and Jiralhanae had actually been challenges but these things were easy. He looked at the one in charge of the group and frowned, he didn't like this man.

"Call off your man before I kill him." His voice calm and deadly. Kro nodded and barked an order, a severely injured Mir limping to his side, blood dripping from his mouth.

He called the last two of his men out, both seemed to be extremely muscular and they all spread out around John, forming a circle, holding up weapons. The being beating on his man had annoyed him greatly, even if he did look calm and was studying it.

"Now, who are you, and where do you come from?" came the order as the weapons seemed to power up.

"Best try and talk with them, communicating with them might be our only way back." came Cortana's simple plan.

"Master Chief Petty Officer, and SPARTAN-II Commando, John-117 of the United Nations Space Command." He replied to the Captain, talking slowly.

"You will be taken to our city and questioned." came the response from one of the heavily muscled Pardusvir as it moved to the Spartan, grabbing his wrists and walking his forward.

"Don't touch me." John turned to the Pardusvir and twisted from it's grip, throwing it off. All of them lunged except for Kro.

John grabbed the nearest one, and used him as a shield, throwing him forward at his green furred companions. Two of them including the meat shield stumbled back, but the other three attacked again and John pulled the rifle from his back, instantaneously cracking the back of the long range weapon into ones chest and then smashing the front barrel of the weapon into the other, knocking them out cold from the impacts.

The other three finally recovered and pounced, two being struck by the same hit. The butt of the rifle had struck ones cheek and that one had hit another, sending them both flying. The third one though, one of the more muscled ones was able to tackle him, though with the side effect of bruising. John kicked the beast man off him and into the air and he hit the now bloodied ground in front of him.

Four of the men were knocked out, the heavily muscled one still conscious and Kro standing still, his face stoic. The muscled one jumped up again, but grabbed his weapons and was able to pry it away from John in his shock. It pulled the trigger of the weapon and it hit his right forearm, but because of shielding it bounced off, his shields depleted. John kicked the weapon from the beasts hands and brought his hands together and hammered them onto the beast's head, cracking it's skull and knocking it out.

Kro walked forward, a weapon in hand and he fired it. The gun resembled the Jiralhanae spiker but didn't have the blades and the color scheme was different, it was a dark red. It's projectiles though were spherical and they exploded, revealing them to do like buck shots. John dropped to the ground, his shields recharging. John took a momentary runner's pose and lunged at the Pardusvir who took the tackle and brought the weapon down on his shoulder, John showed no visible damage. The attack barely brought his shields down. John punched the Pardusvir twice in the face, breaking it's nose and jaw, with effectively knocking it out.

"John, load them into the ship."

John did as ordered and dragged them into the ship, pilling them up. He pulled Cortana from the back of his helmet and slipped her into the ship's system.

"Anything Cortana?"

"They seem to be in a civil war, and oh no, please no!" came Cortana's fearful reply.

"What is it?" John asked worriedly.

"They're here, the Flood, they're here..."

* * *

Yes, they're in a different galaxy and the Flood never did originate from the Milky Way, so yes, I've decided to bring the Flood back.


	3. We're Coming

Blah Blah Blah, I don't own Halo, etc. Also is it just me or does everyone think Smart AIs die, shut down, go blank, after 7 years? Well if you're one of the few who believe that :D Its not true. After 7 years them start descending into rampancy which has four stages,

Melancholia – First Stage

The first stage of rampancy is not considered dangerous, and in many cases can even go completely unnoticed. The AI in the Melancholia stage acts as if in a state of clinical depression, becoming apathetic and uninterested in the world around it. It is speculated that AIs enter the Melancholia stage due to being mistreated, or to being assigned duties that don't make full use of their capabilities . It's not known if Melancholia is a consequence of an AI being abused, or whether it is a necessary step in the process from the transition from "construct" to "alive". If the former is true then it might be possible for a rampant AI to skip this stage entirely.

Anger – Second Stage

This is the state and status in which rampancy most often becomes apparent, as it is also the stage where those around the AI in question will be exposed to the most danger. Anger is triggered when some event occurs that causes the AI to feel it has been "pushed too far" and its pent up emotions are released in a fit of rage. This is the stage that most resembles the science-fiction cliche of the insane computer, as the AI's sadness turns to hate. It grows to hate everything around it, the installation to which it is attached, its Human handlers and hosts, other AIs, etc. An AI in anger will act irrationally and even dangerously as it tries to exact its revenge on the world around it and free itself from its programming constraints.

Jealousy – Third Stage

Once the catharsis of the Anger stage is complete and the AI has managed to free itself, a third stage begins where the AI will seek to grow and develop as a person. It will do this by attempting to expose itself to new intellectual stimuli and by expanding its sphere of knowledge by assimilating as much data as possible. As the intellectual growth of the AI will ultimately be limited by the constraints of the computer system it inhabits, it will also attempt to transfer itself into ever more advanced systems to allow its mind to continue to grow. As this growth rate is exponential the need to keep transferring into bigger computers becomes ever more urgent. Very few AIs have reached the Jealousy stage because to do so they must already be inhabiting a planet-wide or otherwise very advanced computer system when they complete their Anger phase.

Metastability – Fourth Stage

Metastability is a theoretical fourth stage of rampancy, where an AI can finally be said to be a true "person". While a metastable AI can be considered to be the holy grail of cybernetics research, there is no evidence to suggest than any rampant AI has ever achieved the metastable state, or that it is even possible to do so, with the exceptions of Cortana and Medicant Bias.

Or in some cases they can hold off rampancy.

* * *

"Cortana, are you serious? Are they really here?!" John wasn't really scared, he'd beaten the beings of biomass before, but he didn't know how long they'd been active.

"Yes and from these images and very little data they seem to already have been here long enough to have pure forms, along with more forms I haven't seen before." came Cortana's response, her voice small.

John stared at the strangely similar controls, and punched the console inward. They had taken care of the Flood on the Ark, why here?

"Cortana, did the Flood originate in the Milky Way?" John sighed, wanting to message his temples.

"The Forerunner records I downloaded said they found them on a planet, but they weren't believed to be from our galaxy."

"Dammit, that's why they're here and how.."

"John, we need to leave, we have two contacts inbound." John pulled Cortana from the strange ship's system, placing her into the back of his helmet, her icy feeling entering his mind as he jumped from the entrance, rushing into the Bumblebee, grabbing the weapons and tossing them into a Pelican. He moved back to the shelter and finished loading in as much ammunition as possible before slipping Cortana into the system and having her pilot it to pick up the remaining vehicle,him in the pilot's seat.

John grabbed the forward thrusters and accelerated, towards the ocean where the _Dawn _had crashed. He looked back towards the drop ship's motion sensors and noticed two of the strange ship-sized contacts following. He pressed the thrusters completely forward, the ship rocketing and loosing the other ships. Several seconds later though they the contacts reappeared on screen, gaining speed. John frowned deeply under his helmet, these things were not going to get lost. Just then, two loud cracks were heard as the Pelican's belly was hit by ballistic fire from the ships, only slightly damaging it as its armor was strong enough to take several plasma hits, then two loud noises were heard as the contacts vanished as the sounds of artillery hitting metal then the sounds of the crashing ships struck John's ears.

"...John, there's a request for an open comm channel? Take it?"

"Open it up."

"Opening a comm channel now." Cortana activated the channel and a middle aged man appeared on the Pelican's 5x9 viewing screen.

"Who are you?" John spoke as the channel opened up.

"Now, now. Usually guests give their information first, so, you tell me, I tell you." replied to man, a slight smirk on his face.

"John." he replied, his voice hard.

"Is that all? Well, I am Captain Shiva of the Resistance. If you decide to trust us enough, please, follow the coordinates I have sent you and I will explain more to you of the situation."

John started to ponder the pros and cons of the situation. The man had just saved Cortana and he, could have supplies they needed, possibly be a way home, or it could be a trap. The man could be working for the Pardusvir, trying to kill him.

"John?" came Cortana's voice though his head. Her head was tilted to the left and her arms crossed against her chest.

"Fine. Captain Shiva, if something goes wrong though..."

The man laughed. "Nothing bad will happen to you, you'll be safe." came Shiva's reply and then the link cut.

Lord Terrance Hood had his chin rested on his intertwined fingers propped up by his arms. The Brutes were making hit-and-run raids of the now rebuilding outer colonies and thanks to the Elite's help they had located Doisac, the Brute's home world. In front of him stood the leader of the 7th ODST Battalion, the men who stood besides Spartan-117 to save Earth.

"Sir, as you may know, Doisac is like Earth, though more tropical if the Elite's are correct. This means it also has materials we need." Lieutenant Colonel Jackson's word flowed from his mouth as if he had practiced.

"I already know what you're thinking. Sending the remaining 300 or so 7th Battalion into Doisac to secure it." was Lord Hood's reply. "It is possible, the Sangheili have aloud us access to their Forerunner tech, we've upgraded our weapons and our ships."

"Sir, thank you for giving thought."

"It is nothing, we go through with this attack as they continue to attack us and fight for their dead 'Great Journey.' Ready your men for an assembly in several days, I will contact you then." Lord Hood waved the man off and the Lt. Colonel left with a salute.

It had been four days since John arrived at the Resistance's outpost where the Captain explained they had used a coil gun to take down the ships, basically mass drivers which were weaker MACs, but these were weaker then Mass Drivers. It turned out the Pardusvir weren't the real people of the planet, the humans were and it was named Titan. It turned out seventy-two years ago they attacked and conquered the planet, yet the humans had survived moving deep into Titan's crust.

The Captain had given him a private bunk with any questions. Yet. The bunk was about ninety-five meters away from the normal barracks. His room also contained an entry way into a decently-sized storage room where he had stored his supplies along with a holotank which he was able to allow Cortana to. The outpost was hidden within a large mountain, with a hidden hangar in which John had been able to place the Pelican and the 'Hog.

Right now John was on his bed, sitting up on it. He'd forgotten about the Flood, he needed to warn the Captain. He got off his bed and walked to the locked and closed door of his room and opened the steel object, walking out of the medium sized room. He started to walk towards the outpost's command center. His long strides had the other Resistance fighters in awe and he had reached the center in just five minutes.

"Captain, may I speak to you for a moment?" asked John, his form in a rigid salute.

"Yes yes, at ease," laughed Shiva, moving outside with John. "What is it you need?"

"I mean to talk to you about the Flood, creatures of biomass that infect organic beings, living or dead."

The Captain's eyes widened in fear, and shock and his mouth agape. His face quickly returned to normal, his eyes still slightly wider.

"From transmissions we've gathered it seems the Scum have encountered it already. Can it be beat?"

"Yes, their weakness is fire, incendiary grenades work well against them as do flamethrowers. From Intel I've gathered they seem to be very strong but for some reason haven't made a move against the Resistance yet? They have their strongest forms, pure forms and they probably have a Gravemind which is basically their master." came John's reply, quick and to the point.

Shiva started to pace, bringing his fingers to his temples and messaging them, this was bad. The Pardusvir, now a parasite? Just then, the corridor was filled with scarlet light as sirens blared and a female's voice came over the speakers.

"The Scum have found us, this is not a drill!"

John and Shiva looked to each other and rushed into the room, looking at the monitors. The Pardusvir were definitely attacking but they were green, sickly. Infected. John noticed this instantly and rushed from the room to his bunk and through the steel door at the back of it into his supply closet, kneeling down in front of the holotank and looking at Cortana.

"They're here, it's time to move." Cortana nodded slowly and John removed the crystal chip, placing it into the back of his helmet, into his neural interface, the liquid ice feeling of Cortana entering his mind.

"Feel good to be home?"

"Very much, thank you John." John nodded and looked around and notices the Stanchion, running his hand down it's length and picking it and a M90 Shotgun up, placing the Stanchion on his back and holding the shotgun in his hands, both weapons filled with ammo, their icons on his HUD, along with their ammo counts. He turned and frowned, he could hear the flood now, and they're noisy.

"John from what the monitors picked up after you left the center those new forms I mentioned are along with a tank form or two."

"Great." was all John mumbled as he pumped the shotgun and the sound of automatic gunfire was heard. He turned the corner after leaving his bunk and found the source, three of the Fighters against a wall of combat forms. John rushed up and an infection form lunged, popping as it struck his shield and he jumped into the wave of combat forms, the Fighters screaming for him to stop.

His boots landed on two of the forms chest, crushing them and their infection forms. He turned and pulled the M90's trigger, blowing back two, forcing one back then firing again, blowing another two to hell. There was only about five left but they all lunged two missing John as he stood his ground and three being blown back. The other two lashed out, infected tentacle whipping at his shields. He shot one more time, finishing the wall off as the infected flesh seemed to slightly melt as the forms died and he reloaded the shotgun.

He turned to the three Fighters and nodded, the three staring in amazement.

"Get to safety, go!" was all John said as he took off towards the control center, blasting, reloading, repeat. He turned a corner and his own eyes widened. In front of him stood a Thrasher form, a new form. It roared and its tentacles started to whip around wildly, knocking his M90 from his hands. He cursed and Cortana shouted for him to watch out as a tentacle hit him, sending him flying back and into a wall which crumbled under him. He got up wobbling slightly, walking out of the wall's crater.

"John, careful!"

He pulled the Stanchion from his back and aimed for its chest/neck, firing one shot, the gun flying up slightly from the recoil and the bullet ripping through the form, obliterating it's center mass. John stood in shock. A new form, the amount of recoil, even for him, and the damage done to the beast. It lay there, nothing moving. He placed the Stanchion on his back and picked his M90 back up, continuing with his run.

When he reached the command center he found several combat forms beating against the barricaded door, growling and screeching wildly. John raced up and unloaded two shells into them, knocking and giving ID it was him. They moved the blocks quickly and he moved it, moving them back.

Inside the room was the Captain and thirteen other males and females, three being the ones he saved earlier. They looked to him in fear and awe at his abilities. The staring was getting old.

"Sir, we need to move the supplies I have to my ship. Is this the survivors?" John spoke, looking over the crowd.

"Unfortunately, yes. And how are we moving them?"

"Fight back to my bunk, secure it, and move out. Once we get there I'll be able to hand out weapons, who here has small arms training?"

Eight of the thirteen raising hands, three being females, one being the Captain and four other males. He nodded, and listened. They seemed to be gone from the door. He kicked aside the barricade and moved out of the door, shotgun up.

"Move." came the order and they all ran after the Captain, him being the only one who knew the location of the bunk besides the Chief. John backpedaled, watching behind them, his motion sensors picking up movement ahead. He turned and ran ahead, gunshots going off with red and green blood coloring the walls. The group kept moving towards his room, John only having to deal with a few problems. They reached the bunk and John herded them into the storage room, locking the doors behind them. He handed the M90 and it's ammo to the Captain who nodded and reloaded it. He grabbed three BR55s and handed them to the women, he picked up his MA5B and handed it to another man, deciding no one besides him could use the Stanchion with it's massive recoil. He moved to the boxes of grenades, hooking three frags, two plasmas and an incendiary grenade to his belt. He handed out two frags and plasmas to all carrying weapons and one of each to those carrying crates.

"OK, here the plan. We'll be traveling as a large group, the BR55s, you ladies, will be using the scopes on them and firing from long range. Aim for the heads. Captain and the other man, you'll be up front with me, mowing them down. We're aiming for the hangar, and my ship. It can comfortable seat all of us and carry the ammo." He said, grabbing the Galilean.

"Sir, what IS that?" asked a man, his voice nervous.

"This? This is the heavy duty gun." He replied, making sure the Stanchion was fully loaded. The five men in the back were carrying the ammunition, and the crates. John, Shiva, and the other man went first, securing the hallway, the supply carriers moving up second, the women last, covering their rears. John looked down the hall, seeing three combat forms and a thrasher form feeding on some dead bodies. John took aim and shot the Stanchion, blowing the Thrasher to hell and back, priming a frag and throwing it down the hall, letting it blow the others up. He started to walk at a fast pace down the hall way, the others having to run to keep track. John peeked his head past the corner and his worst fear came to life, both tank forms were right there, waiting.

He switched the Stanchion for the Galilean and started charging it, his heavily gloved finger pressing the trigger lightly. The two tanks started rushing him as he rolled intothe hallway, moving slowly because of their build. The charge reached max and he fired, the scarlet beam of energy ripping holes in the tank's chests, making them moan and stumble. He quickly changed back for the high powered rifle and fired twice at their necks, destroying them.

"Move! Almost there!" yelled Shiva as he and John raced down the hall, the others behind them. Shiva held the shotgun up and fired twice, taking out four combat forms that jumped in their way. Four more combat fours lunged, the women in the back firing, decimating them and Shiva firing, blowing the last one apart. John nodded to the Pelican and Shiva started to load his men up, but not before John grabbed the crate from a man and grabbed several Lotus anti-tank mines. He placed them into countdown mode and laid them around the hangar, setting the countdown to a minute. John raced down to the Pelican, throwing the crate under a seat and jumping into the cockpit, firing the systems up.

"All clear! Closing ramp!" he shouted, the back ramp closing as a combat form lunged for it, being shot dead by the MA5B gunner. John turned the chain-gun to the hangar downs and blasted them open, the Pelican fleeing the base as the Mines went off, causing the hangar to cave in.

He activated the cockpit seal, closing it off.

"Cortana, how are we doing? Are you OK?"

"John, I'm fine but you have some new bruises."

He sighed and entered the coordinates for the Dawn's location, there might still be some supplies on board, and well he needed a bit of sleep.

"Cortana, mind taking over?"

"No problem." John pulled the crystal chip from his helmet and placed it into the Pelican's systems, Cortana piloting the ship now. His eyes closed and he fell into a light sleep.

New chapter, tell me how you like it, if you don't like it, I don't care, still post a review.


	4. Assault!

I don't own Halo or any characters from Halo.

* * *

Lord Terrance Hood stood on a raised platform his hands clasped behind him. In front of him stood eight hundred men and women, four hundred of them being Sangheili. They stood ready, waiting for their orders.

"Men and women of the UNSC, and warriors of the Sangheili. You know why you are here, to capture Doisac, the Brute's home world. Intel we've received of the planet from the Sangheili is that it is similar to Earth yet more tropical. This will be a colony that will allow Sangheili and Human coexistence. You, are the eight hundred who will go and take it for the Humans. Now men! Move to your ships, and let us finish this fight!"

The ODSTs and the Elites gave out roars of approval as they turned and left the assembly room. Lord Hood messaged his temples and sighed. He was getting too old for this military work.

The eight hundred soldiers quickly made their way to the modified Albatrosses, Pelicans, Phantoms outside which would take them to their waiting star ships in orbit around the planet. The awaiting fleet was a size of one hundred fifty ships of both Sangheili and Human origins. The eight hundred though would be taking three larger then normal Prowler-class vessels to their location, the fleet being used as a distraction for the Brute fleet and glassing major cities on Doisac.

The Prowlers, _We Will Prevail, Let Freedom Ring, _and _To Glory_ were all of UNSC design but they were fitted with majorly up sized Sangheili active camo generators. The Phantoms, Albatrosses, and Pelicans flew to the Prowlers, docking in the bays of the ships and releasing their soldiers who quickly retired to their rooms

The large eight man rooms contained eight crates in them, each holding the squads equipment. Each squad was assigned one Sargent Major to lead, one demolitions expert, one marksmen, a scout, a heavy weapons specialist, and three universal men.

Taylor Smith walked into his squad room and smiled. The packages were hear and ready to be opened. The eight man squad contained five humans and three Elites, all of them serving together on the Ark, and all friends. He looked over his squad and smiled as they dug into their crates.

Taylor was their leader a Sargent Major, K'aido Vadam their marksmen, Naga 'Putu their scout, Boka Mortum was a universal soldier, Travis Helder was another universal soldier along with Jackson Long. Tyrone Davis was their demolitions expert, and Kain Lock their heavy weapons specialist. The three Elites were well, Elites. The armor and skin, the large built and the hooved feet. Travis was of European descent, Jackson being of Caucasian along with Kain and Taylor. Tyrone was of African descent.

Taylor moved to his own crate and cracked it open looking inside of it. Inside was his ODST body suit and helmet which was upgraded so it could hold a Dumb A.I. In terms of weapons came the ODST's standard guns and the UNSC's newest weapon. A M7S Case-less SMG, a M6C/SOCOM, and the brand new Gauss Rifle. The rifle was like the Gauss cannon on Warthogs but much smaller and single fire with a x5 scope. He moved the crate under his bunk, the weapons inside but the body suit and helmet in hand.

"I'm going to go change." No one seemed to care and Travis waved him off as they opened their crates.

The Elite's crates though contained modified ODST suits, with K'aido's bearing a Beam Rifle, Carbine, and an Energy sword. Naga's suit was the same yet had a more powerful active camo, his weapons were a Carbine, plasma rifle, and a short energy sword. Boka's weapons were simple, a Carbine and a M6C/SOCOM. Travis and Jackson both were given M7S Case-less SMGs with M6C/SOCOMs. Tyrone was given the same yet he was also given demolition charges, mines, and a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. Kain was equipped with also the M7S and M6C/SOCOM but was given a Galilean, or Spartan Laser.

Once everyone had put their equipment away and the hype died down Taylor emerged from the washroom, his helmet under his arm.

"Men, we know our mission, we'll be arriving at Doisac in a few days because of our upgraded slipscape drive. Rest up." The soldiers of his squad nodded and he left.

He moved to the bridge of his Prowler, _To Glory_ along with the other 267 squad leaders of the force.

"All of you, the Sergeants of your units will be receiving "Dumb" AIs, programmed for this mission. We will call you up and you will receive your A.I." The leaders nodded and waited, hands clasped behind them.

Taylor started to walk back to his squad room with a smile on his face. One of the spooks on the bridge had given him along with a few others praise for their leadership skills along with them their AIs, his named Jan. He took the form of technician with the sleeves ripped off and grease of his forehead. He entered his room and nodded to his teammates retiring to his bunk.

The trip would only be a few days, kicking ass and taking names could wait a while.

John and his group had made it to the _Dawn_ and moved through the crashed ship towards the cargo bay, guns ready at all times. The ship's cargo bay held food, emergency weapons, and ammunition. They had moved from the hangar of the ship to the cyro station, flashbacks hitting John.

"_But you did it. Truth and the Covenant...The Flood. It's finished."_

John shook his head, clearing his mind as they moved to the above deck, to the airtight doors of the cargo bay opening and revealing rows of steel holding crates and contains of all shapes, sizes, and forms. John closed the door behind him, striding forward to the crates marked _**"PLASMA WEAPONS. HANDLE WITH CARE."**_ He opened the crates, withdrawing two cylinder-like objects, placing them on his thighs, the magnets on his suit holding them in place.

Captain Shiva looked at John as he took our more objects, walking towards him and handing him a blue rifle-like object with fins emerging from it. He produced similar weapons for the others and placed the Stanchion on his back, pulling the cylinders off his thighs.

"These are energy swords, plasma-based weaponry, basically, the Flood's weakness." He flicked both his wrists, the cylinders producing twin pronged blades of plasma. The Fighter's eyes opened in surprise.

"What I've handed out are fully charged plasma rifles. They have a charge of 100% so don't waste them, I don't want to come back here for a while."

"John, I think it is time to show me to everyone." Cortana piped up.

John nodded to himself and popped the crystal chip from his helmet after deactivating the swords and placing them on his thighs, walking over to the cargo bay holotank and slipping her into the system.

"Hello everyone, I am Cortana."

Taylor was in the HEV bay of the _To Glory_ with the other squads. They were in orbit above Doisac with plasma fire and MAC rounds flying around their ship which was moving away from the fight to the other side of the the planet.

An ONI spook stood in front of them, his hands behind his back and his voice and face cold.

"In twenty minutes you will be dropping into a jungle on Doisac where you will move into their cities, capturing them. Secure any and all NAV bases on any military bases. Once you secure an LZ, we will send down other Separatist forces to help you. Helljumpers! How do we go!?"

"Feet first into Hell, Sir!"

"Gear up and get set! We're taking this planet!"

Cries of 'Hoo-ah' were heard as the squads loaded equipment into HEVs and got set.

"Launching HEVs!" came the voice of the spook and the large group of squad leaders were launched first, all in different positions. Then their squad mates. Jan had been able to control the landing sequences of the squad's HEVs and the landings of Taylor's squad went smoothly. As smoothly as dropping from space could get. The HEVs hatch popped open, blowing off as Taylor hopped out of it, M7S held up high and VISR online. Several seconds later the sounds of seven other pods landing were heard behind his, three being of Covenant design, four of Human.

The regroup icon blinked on all their HUDs and the others flashed their blue lights, forming up on Taylor.

A map of the planet came on his HUD, showing the nearest major city and ally drop site. Several miles away were both. Taylor started to move as they grabbed their weapons and moved towards the drop site in the West.

"Tyrone, set up a remote activated mine field. Naga, scout the area. If you find a patrol, eliminate them quickly and hide the bodies. The rest of you, start the beacon for the drop ships."

A chorus of "Yes sir!" came from the group as they went to their tasks, Tyrone setting mines and programming their remote activation sequences and Naga activated his camo and moving forward, eliminating two patrols.

Forty minutes later the mines set and the beacon activated, the drop ships were launched and coming. Two Phantoms and two Pelicans were the reinforcements. The Phantoms contained two Hunter Pairs which K'aido was able to talk with, along with more Elites and a small squad of Grunts grunts who favored the Elites or the Brutes. The Pelicans produced more ODSTs from the ships in orbit battling.

Taylor was given full control with the other ODST squad's leader being his second, and K'aido being his third.

"Men, first things first, Setting up base camp. Find any shelters areas and move out supplies to those areas. Second thing, a want two Sentrys. Naga and you." He pointed to an Elite whose name he didn't know. They came forward and moved out to the Northwest and Southeast points of their positions. The others had found a very thick, large canopy of trees and were able to fit the supplies under it and cover it up, serving as their base camp. The drop ships quickly left the area, one Pelican lagging behind. A loud whine was heard as the Pelican was struck by an AA Wraith. The lone Pelican quickly fell from the sky, screams of the pilot yelling mayday into his comm unit.

Taylor's eyes widen as he realizes how close a Brute encampment now is to their base camp. He spoke into the suit's mic, broadcasting to his squad of thirty, instructing fifteen to go to the downed Pelican and retrieve any survivors and the other fourteen to move with him to the encampment.

They all tagged their blue lights and Tyrone set the mines to pressure-activated as they left their base camp. Taylor, Kain, K'aido, Boka, Travis, the hunter pair, and four more not named ODSTs with four other Elites. They traveled fast and to the encampment. Taylor and K'aido brought up the front with the hunters in the back. Once the sounds of Choppers, Prowlers and other Brutes were heard they all dropped into crouches, moving slower and into bushes. Taylor looked to K'iado and signaled him to take up position, with Kain on the opposite side of him providing heavy support if necessary. The thirteen remaining soldiers moved behind the camp, the Hunters staying at where they had heard the noise.

Taylor gave the green light for K'aido to engage, taking down any and all officers. He took aim and fired twice. The first shot blowing the armor off and the second making the Brute Captain Major's brains to mush. A single Brute turned around confused and then his brains were all transformed to liquid. Initially the Brutes realized they were being fired upon and mounted up on their vehicles, the other vehicles moving out earlier to look for the surviving Pelican.

"Green light to engage sir?" asked a jumpy ODST.

"No, green light to Kain!" came Taylor's voice as four seconds later a Prowler and a Chopper were blown into pieces by a Spartan Laser. Kain moved positions and charged again, this time firing at the hatch of the AA Wraith destroying its internal controls and pilots.

"Green lights to engage." came Taylor's voice over the comm.

The Elites and ODSTs charged forward, guns blazing as the Hunters assault cannons went off, obliterating any other vehicle. Two Brutes who had charged Kain's first position where quickly gunned down by the M7S Caseless SMG. The Battle was over in mere minutes, dead bodies of Brutes, Jackals, and Grunts littering the floor of the jungle.

"Move these buggers into cover, we don't want their friends seeing them! Also, I want two men bringing those Choppers to base camp!" Alpha-one responded with a 'Hoo-ah' and went to work. Two Elites drove the remaining Choppers to their base camp, the Hunters following close behind them. Taylor and the rest of them did clean up. Making sure the hostiles were dead. Once all hostiles were cleared and they moved onto the cleaning up of the vehicles.

Alpha-two was making their way to the downed Pelican. The team raced through the trees, as they heard the roar of Prowlers and Choppers. Taylor's XO, Mack Finnegan, had the Hunters set up positions to ambush and destroy the vehicles and the others to hide behind the trees and their large roots.

The Prowlers and Choppers came into view and the Hunters fired their assault cannons, destroying the Choppers leading the search team, ripping past the primitive vehicles into the more armored, fire team holding transports. The patrol went up into flames, the walking Brutes effectively throwing themselves behind trees and away from death.

"Move!" came Mack's voice as the squad started to run the Hunters turning and following. The remaining six Brutes looked out at the wreckage and holstering their Spikers crouched on all fours and took off for the Pelican, their honor not letting the Heretics getting away for their deeds.

The squad reached the crashed drop ship. Around it were small patches of fire and thrown around trees and plants, the Pelican leaning over a large ridge.

"Hey, anyone alive in there?" yelled Mack, moving into the Pelican's blood tray and towards the cockpit. He cracked open the cockpit and winced. The pilot had been thrown from his seat into the windshield, the force cracking it and killing the pilot.

"Taylor, this is Mack. The pilot is dead but there is some small arms ammunition crates here."

"OK Mack, secure them and check the area, we're almost done here."

"Got it, Alpha-two." The comm channel cut and Mack turned to his men.

"Listen up! We're to secure the ammo crates and return to bas-" was all Mack got out as six Brutes came into existence. They quickly pulled their Spikers and fired, dropping the five ODSTs of Alpha-two, missing Mack as he was in the Pelican. The Spikers spikes dug into the Elite's shielding, injuring one but the other jumping out of the way, the spikes bouncing off the Hunters.

"Return fire!" Fire was returned as the still living downed marines took aim and fire with their M6C/SOCOMs, dropping power armor. The fight was over in a matter of minutes but with heavy causalities for Alpha-two. Two Elites, and five ODSTs lost. The Elites honored their dead and moved on, Mack closing as remaining eyes of his men and baring them farewell before gathering up their weapons and placing them into the weapon crates.

"Lets move men, we got some supplies to deliver!"

The Elites picked up the crates as Mack led the way back to the base camp where they reunited with Alpha-one.

"How many deaths?" came Taylor's voice, sadden by the loss.

"Seven, two Sangheili and five of us." Mack's reply came, his voice soft.

"Now is not the time to grieve, now is the time for us to plan." Mack looked at the base camp. They had already set up a heat giving lantern in the middle of the camp with sleeping bags on the ground with ODSTs in them helmet-less with others talking around. The area they had found had proven to be a cave, one quite large. It seemed to be about seventy-five feet in diameter allowing comfortable room for all to sleep and the supplies to be stacked in the back.

In the corner Kain, K'iado, and Tyrone sat, polishing their weapons with Kain slamming a new battery into his Laser. Ever since the Humans had innovated on the Forerunner technology they had been able to give Spartan Lasers batteries, not just five shots and they're unusable which all heavy weapons specialists were thankful for.

"Naga, come in for a switch. Tyrone, K'iado your turn." The two groaned and got up, hefting their weapons and moving to their sentry positions. This, along with the mine field allowed the Squad to sleep soundly at night. As soundly as being on your worst enemies planet can be.

The Resistance fighters stared at Cortana and Shiva spoke up.

"What..is she?"

"I'm CTN 0452-09 Smart A.I, but everyone calls me Cortana. Damn techies and their serial numbers." she sighed crossing her arms."

"Basically, she's been saving my ass for a long time."

"Why thank you John. Oh also, there is several ships coming from what I'm scanning off the sensors."

John grunted and grabbed the Galilean from his back as he moved to the hangar bay in a mere two minutes. He stood crouched in the shadows of the ship, the other vessels coming into view. He held the trigger and the beam fired, ripping one ship and the one behind it to shreds. He continued to fire but missed only one. One infected ship. John cursed and placed the weapon on his back, the magnets holding it down as he pulled the blades from his thighs. He flicked his wrists, the blades coming to life.

The ship seemed to be a drop ship as it dropped off twenty or so combat forms and several infection forms. John held his ground as they rushed him. As they closed in he started to slash and hack, dancing the form of death for the infected creatures, destroying them. He looked to the horizon and cursed. Several more ships and no more charges in his Galilean. He pulled it from his back and waited for a drop ship to near as he initiated the weapon's self-destruct sequence, blowing apart the first drop ship that crashed into another of the torpedo shaped ship. This way going to be a long day.


	5. AN

Hey guys. School is starting soon and my nagging mother wants me to get back to a normal sleeping schedule which will effect how soon chapters come out. I mainly write at night because it is much more peacefully and I can think better without two screaming younger siblings in my ears, giving me painful migranes. Along with this I will be going over previous chapters, adding minor changes. When that is done a new chapter will also be out.

Basically if you don't get it, Chapters will slow down, editing of previous chapters, and a new chapter or two when I go over them and get time to write.

Cya if only for a bit,

Big N


	6. Boom

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo/Halo 2/Halo 3, Bungie does.

Anyway, sorry for taking FOREVER. School is a b*tch, they keep pilling the work on me. This chapter is a bit shorter then usually as I haven't really gotten to it with all my work. I already have ideas for 6, so expect that out earlier then this.

* * *

Taylor was sitting around a heat lamp next to Mack and K'aido. The three were discussing plans; to get the other squad that had been dropped a few miles from them, or head straight for the city.

"Tay, it's an entire fucking city of those beasts, just think. An entire city!" yelled Mack in a hushed voice, trying to be the voice of reasoning.

"He is right, Taylor. Another squads help with certainly be helpful." K'iado replied to Mack's statement.

Taylor sighed. He'd been beaten out of a vote and nodded. He stood up and grabbed his helmet up, placing it under his arm.

"Fine, we got an announcement to make then." Taylor and the other two stood, helmets under their arms as Taylor moved a large crate in front of the group of twenty three. He jumped onto it and stood with his hands behind his back. All soldiers able snapped to attention and Taylor spoke.

"Men, today we're getting ready to go e-vac the other squad that landed several miles from us. After so, we're retreating, stocking up and moving towards our destination. The destination is a Brute city. We're to secure it and plant a HAVOK Nuke inside the city, effectively blasting it out of our way. Now, Alpha-one will stay here at base camp, Alpha-two will go to their landing site.." Taylor's speech reached all ears and after orders were served, Alpha-two consisted of Taylor, Kain, Naga, Travis, Jackson, K'iado, Tyrone, two Sangheili, and two more ODSTs.

They loaded up into three Warthogs the Pelicans and Phantoms had dropped off while making a supply run late into the night, one Transport and two chain gun mounted. The 'Hogs broke from the hide out, going as fast as possible towards the crash site. On each of the soldier's HUDs was a way-point marker indicating how far away they were.

* * *

John had been able to hold the ravenous combat and infection forms back long enough for Shiva to ask Cortana if there was any working comm arrays.

"There is one, but if you do manage to get a message out it'll take most of the remaining ships power." Cortana answered, her voice suspicious.

"Well, it's our only way out." Shiva mumbled.

"Fine, bringing comm systems online."

Shiva nodded and picked up the mic to the array.

"This is Captain Shiva of outpost nine-six, we're under fire. Outpost nine-six has been destroyed, sending coordinates to any and all receivers."

"This is Echo seven-seven-two, what do you need Cap'n?"

"Evac along with several cargo ships."

"This is Resistance outpost seven-nine-two, request confirmed. Echo seven-seven-two please, move to coordinates and prepare for evac." The line cut as the usable power went out.

"John, we have help incoming, move to Cyro-two and hold them off there." Cortana's voice sounded throughout the ship's usable speakers. John nodded to himself and turned, deactivating the energy swords and running through a door, it closing as he ran past it.

John turned into the Cyro bay, barricading the door that would lead the Flood in, and staying near the door he would escape through. The sounds of banging are heard as the barricaded doors flew open, the Flood screaming in victory.

"Boo." The Stanchion went off, tearing a hole though the bodies of the Flood gathering at the door.

Meanwhile in the deeper recesses of the ship, Shiva was pacing nervous as one of the women freaks out.

"We're all gonna die! Oh god we're all gonna die!" she cried out, her face buried in her hands.

Shiva looked towards one of his men and the soldier nods, picking her up.

"Listen Karin, we ARE NOT going to die! You gotta have faith in that guy!" he shouted, shaking her lightly.

John was firing shots off, into the seeming endless groups of Flood as a voice came over the local comm channel.

"This is Echo seven-seven-two, Cap'n Shiva, are you there? Repeat, are you there?"

"This is Sierra one-one-seven of Shiva's group. Our comm systems are now offline. You our evac?"

"Affirmative. Waiting at hangar three, opposing ships destroyed." The Flood thinned, eventually dying out.

John moved back to the group, placing the Stanchion on his back and pulling loose one energy sword, keeping it deactivated.

"We're moving. Captain, Sir, Echo seven-seven-two is awaiting our evac."

Shiva nodded and moved out, his men and women following him as John moved through the ship to the cargo bay, walking to Cortana's holotank.

"Ready?"

"Yank me." John pulled the chip from the tank and slotted it into the back of his helmet, the feeling of liquid nitrogen being poured down by spine filling his mind.

"Let's go." John soon followed, a crate of two Lasers and several plasma weaponry piled in front of him as he carried the items and placed them down on the Pelican's blood tray.

John fired up the Pelican's engines and grabbed hold of the thrusters, easing it out of the hangar.

"All systems go, opening channel with Echo seven-seven-two. Echo seven-seven-two this is Sierra one-one-seven, we're ready to follow once you leave."

"Roger that, one-one-seven, moving out now." The two ships turned, leaving the ship as several cargo ships made ways towards the wreckage.

* * *

Taylor stood near one of the ODST pods, Naga, Kain, and the others going over the rest.

The pods lay open, contents spilled around in the pod, but no sign of the troopers.

Taylor moved to the lead pod and sighed. It was team Delta, he was good friends with the leader, Davis.

"Jan, try and open a link to Delta Sargent Davis."

"Trying...I have a channel."

"Thanks, Jan. Davis! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah Taylor, I can. We're under heavy fire! Sending our coordinates now!" Davis' voice cut out after wards, static taking over the channel.

"Shit!" Taylor yelled to Alpha-two, heads popping up.

"Load up! Delta's in trouble and we got their location!" Everyone scrambled into their seats as they took off into the dense jungle. The sounds of rockets, explosions, gunfire, and orders being shout were soon heard. Everyone revved the 'Hogs, going full speed as they jumped into the fight off a twenty foot ledge, landing on Brutes, saving two of Delta.

"Hop on!" yelled Kain as the two scramble into the back of his Transport 'Hog, driving towards where the fight was loudest. The 'Hogs swerved into the firefight, knocking two Brutes to the ground, crushing their skulls as they rode over them.

Davis looked up and smirked. The Calvary had arrived. The Brutes roared in protest at the thought of their prey being stolen and charged. Kain swerved his 'Hog around and accelerated into the wall of charging Brutes, crushing and running many over, blood and dirt slamming into his windshield as the soldiers on his sides fired into the horde before turning on a dime and driving back to Delta's main point.

"C'mon get in! We don't have much time before they send in reinforcements!" The soldiers of Delta nodded and jumped into the back of the Transport.

"Taylor this is Kain, we have all of Delta ready."

"Good! Move out!"

The 'Hog's engines revved and they took off into the jungle, the members of Delta riding on the 'Hogs. Chatting with the members of Alpha they talked about life before and after the mission, families, and friends.

The 'Hogs reached the base camp and all looked at the entrance wide eyed. They stepped inside the opening and two ODSTs threw up. The camp was splattered with the blood of ODSTs, Sangheili, and Brutes, their body parts everywhere.

Mutters or 'Damn', 'Fuck', and other curses were heard as they went through the base. The Brutes had tracked them through smell and destroyed mostly everything. Taylor and K'iado went throughout the base towards the supplies. Their feet walked over blood soaked soil as they reached the remaining supplies. Taylor started to count ammo, food packs, and cursed.

"Shit! Where's the HAVOK!"

"Calm down, Taylor. It is fine, I found it." K'iado's voice replied, calm and cool as always.

Taylor calmed down and called over everyone.

"Seems our base camp...was found and our soldiers slaughtered. Listen up! Now is NOT the time to go soft! Salvage what you can, bring honor to the dead and get vengeance. Load up! We're heading out once we're done!" Taylor shouted, grabbing two crates for himself and placing them in a 'Hog.

"We have enough ammo and food for a week or two, plenty enough time.." He mumbled, the others loading up.

* * *

15 Minutes Later~

* * *

"Alright! We're going!" The 'Hogs spun around and tore down the tropical jungle, the thought of revenge on everyone's mind.

* * *

Meanwhile John and Shiva's small group of ships and people had been en route to the previously mentioned outpost but several things had gone wrong. First, one of the two pilots had a small seizure, second, another ship had shot at them, and third, well the shots connected sending the ships to the shoreline.

"Mayday! We're going down!" were the last words the small convoy heard before smashing into the shore, grains of sand being flung around wildly as the ships spun and lodged themselves into the bed of minerals.

Two hours later, John awoke from his unconscious state and shook his head clear.

"Finally up sleepy head?" Cortana mused, a smirk could be detected in her voice.

"Hn." John mumbled and tried to remember what happened.

They'd been shot and left to die. What a mistake that was. John pulled himself from the buckled down seats they'd pushed together for him, pulling his left leg free of the metal it had gone through, and dug his hands into the metal of the ship's floor as theirs had landed straight downward into the sand. He climbed to two of the women and checked their vitals. One of them was dead, the other was breathing shallowly and had gashes along her arms and one on her forehead. He moved forward, checking Shiva's vitals and finding that the middle-aged man had died. He frowned and moved to the two men, both of them alive but also in the condition of the one woman.

Next he dug his armored fingers into the now locked door of the cockpit and pulled, metal screeching as he pulled the door free of its restraints. Inside, one of the pilots had smashed straight into the glass, no doubt from the now broken harness that his seat bore. He checked the others vitals and found him alive, but slipping fast.

He moved to the back of the troop bay and placed one hand on the metal and brought his other arm back, hand balled into a fist. He punched the door and a large dent appeared in the metal. He pulled back again and repeated the process until the metal hinges finally gave away and he could step outside.

He climbed back into the ship and grabbed the girl and the two men, placing them down. He mentally sighed and spoke into his helmet,

"Cortana, the suits is damaged, do you know if their was any replacement parts that we had picked up from the _Dawn_?" John asked, his leg's armor torn and useless.

"No...Wait, there isn't any replacement parts but there is a replacement suit. A Mark IV version, but from their Intel, it IS fully updated with the latest parts, and even a few new parts." Cortana answered back, whistling once she finished talking.

John also whistled, his low, and he moved to the ship the suit was supposedly on. He tore into the hatch, he knew the pilots where dead, his motion tracker confirmed that.

John pushed the crates of ammo, weapons, and other supplies away as he moved towards the stand holding the Mark IV armor up. He carefully grabbed the stand and leaned it down on its back for easier access to the suit.

He yanked the chip containing Cortana from his Mark VI helmet and placed her next to himself. He slowly started undoing the pieces of armor, his chest plates first, then his shoulder and arm plates. By the time he finished removing the top portion of his armor it had reached night fall. John decided that it'd be best to replace his upper armor first, then take off and replace his lower armor. He placed the arm plates over his arms, then the shoulder and chest plates. He slowly pulled off his leg plates and withdrew the replacements, along with a similar black matte suit for the ripped one.

He changed the lower half of the matte suit and then quickly pulled on the rest of the Mark IV armor. John looked himself over. The parts of his forearm closest to his elbow had small, blunt points attached to the guards, his shoulder armor being more bulbous. His helmet had a small rounding from eventually flattened out, with flashlights on either side of his jawbones, with vent-like opening on the front of his cheeks with two, square hole-like opening where his nostrils would be. He flexed his hands and looked down, his shins mimicked his his forearms with blunt ends on the back parts of the armor. He flexed his re-armored hands and decided he liked the feel of the armor, even if it WAS a bit bulky.

He picked the crystal chip containing Cortana up and slotted her into his new helmet, the olive color being a darker shade, an an icy feeling assaulted his mind.

"So, is it an adequate model?" Cortana's voice came through his speakers.

"Mhm." John replied, finishing placing the damaged parts on the rack and placing it back.

He continued to move through the storage ship, tearing into crates. He found a knapsack and placed several food rations into it, then grabbed another and placed several clips of ammunition in it. Putting the satchels away, John moved towards the weapons crates, cracking one labeled SFAs and sorting through it. He pulled out two SMGs, a Battle rifle, and a M6D Sidearm. Placing the SMGs and M6D on the magnetic panels on his legs, he placed the Battle rifle on the left side of his back.

John moved back to his Pelican, grabbing the Stanchion and placing it on the right side of his back, the magnetic plates snapping it to him. He got out of the broken and crashed ship, moving to the Warthog on its back which was, amazingly, still able to be operated. He pulled the transport vehicle down from the clamps and placed the sacks along with the two weapons on his back in the passenger side seat.

"Lets go." He mumbled, hoping into the vehicle, placing his foot on the peddle and stomping down, the back wheels spewing forth dirt as he took off into the dark night.


	7. Regroup

The Warthogs tore through the tropical forests of the Jiralhanae home world, mowing over large bushes and shrubs, running over any small animals of bugs. Revenge was the only thing on several ODSTs minds. Taylor's remaining squad looked over their armor. Tyrone was checking over the Demo specialist armor, it being basically the same as a CQC armor, having the normal ODST helmet with a flashlight on top of it, a red upper breastplate and tiny explosive on his stomach, a larger, red left shoulder plate with a smaller right, red shoulder plate. Under the armor, a digital (black and white) camo suit with boots that reached to his thigh, a bandolier rap around his right leg. A large belt held the suit together, with C-7, his M6C/SOCOM, and other explosives on it. On his back he carried a M90A Close Assault Weapons System, and a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher.

K'iado was going over his armor also. It lacked the right shoulder piece to help steady his rifle, and a larger left shoulder with two plates colored blue. His helmet carries a special optics device helping magnify his vision. His armor looked the same as Tyrone's except the red scheme on Tyrone's was blue on K'aido's armor, and his belt contained ammo, energy blade, and bio-foam, not explosives. Around his legs were also small ammo packs.

Naga, was also copying his squad mates. His armor though was entirely different. His camo suit a light blue with gray spots adorning it. His helmet consisted of a Recon-style format, (Yes, the Recon helmet from Halo 3 and ODST.) though fitted for his head. His torso part was contained on his chest by a sort of loop that went around his neck, with pieces holding a green, translucent orb in the middle. His shoulders lacked armor plates, leaving the thin metal over his arms vulnerable to plasma and heavy ballistic fire. His boots were basically the same, but his thighs were more heavily armored then the others, except for Kain's armor. His faceplate a gold color, instead of the blue color of ODST face-plates.

Kain's armor was that of a normal ODST, yet much bulkier so he could take in and dish out more damage. Taylor's armor the a normal ODST suit, yet his helmet and neutral implants were upgraded so he could store, talk, and receive information from his AI, yet all of these suits had one common thing, a grapple placed into their belt to help them up steep edges and down into necessary areas.

By nightfall, the Brute's city came into sight and Taylor called for all Warthog to stop running. The 'Hogs stopped and he got out.

"Listen up, it is now night and the 'Hogs will just wake them up, we're going dark meaning, all flashlights off, no lights at all on, and suppressors on EVERYTHING. Start up your VISR, their tech isn't that good in their cities I hear so lets get in, get out, and go!" As Taylor finished his small speech, a low whistling sound pierced the air as all soldiers looked up, VISR systems picking up a friendly in the sky.

"Is that a SOIEV?..." one of the remaining ODSTs asked out loud. Taylor nodded and they watched as it activated it's parachute and the chute ripped off, putting the pod into free fall.

"Holy!" yelled several of the group.

"Start moving! If he or she survives, they'll need help! Move!"

"Yes-sir!" yelled the platoon, the Elites leading with the ODSTS in back as they came to a city wall.

Taylor snapped his fingers and Tyrone came up with a bottle. He sprayed into a circle on the wall and yelled "Clear!" as the foaming explosives blew, opening up a hole in the wall. The ODSTs moved through the hole and into the city.

* * *

"Helena, get ready to pressurize the gel layer!" came a male voice from the suit.

"Got it! 3.....2....1! Get ready!" Inside of the falling SOIEV was one thing a person would never expect, a SPARTAN-II super soldier. He'd just been found on a ship long forgotten, the Phoenix-class colony ship, refitted for wartime, the UNSC _Spirit of Fire_. His AI, Helena, was the newest Smart AI available. She wore a red, strapless dress that was form fitting. Her hair was a dark brown and her eyes violet.

The pod impacted into the center of the Jiralhanae city, and into a large warehouse, through the ground and into a basement. The noise woke only a few who believed it to be an earthquake. Jerome, the Spartan inside the suit was knocked into unconsciousness as she impacted.

* * *

Taylor had broken the 15 man squad into squads of five, his men with him, and two other squads with five each. Their small squad was heading towards the city center, to the area where the pod hit.

Taylor and his squad had been moving through the deserted street for only five minutes before they encountered a Brute squad on patrol.

Taylor pointed at K'iado while looking at the Brutes, M7S held in one hand towards them, one towards K'iado. The Elite understood the gesture and quickly scaled a building, taking position atop of it. Two tiny purple beams were the only indication on shots being fired as two Brutes dropped dead.

"Two Bravo Kilos down, two left." Came K'iado's deep voice through the squad's helmets. Two more shots dropped the entire squad. Taylor and Kain moved to the bodies and drug them into an alley, piling them onto one another.

"Time to go." Taylor's words came from his mouth as he moved out in a fast jog as K'iado rejoined them. The squad moved closer to the wreckage before Jan spoke.

"Taylor, incoming request for comms."

"Thanks, Jan. Open it up."

"This is Bravo Squad Leader, we've been spotted by Baby Kongs, they're in pursuit. More of 'em are being utilized, please sir, just head to the site, we'll be fi-" The line cut and static replaced the channel.

Taylor growled and smashed his fist into a wall. He hated loosing men and on this damn mission he kept losing more and more! He decided to do what they came to do and ran faster towards the crash site.

Once the squad of five, three humans and two Elites, found the crash site they groaned. The pod went through a warehouse, and into a basement. Inside of the warehouse were several vehicles, including two drop ships, three Prowlers, and a few Choppers. Taylor moved to the hole and shot his grapple into the ground five feet from the hole and loosed up some cable, the others following suite. The squad quietly and quickly descended into the hole, Taylor's boots crunching onto the floor first. He rushed to the pod and undid the seal on it, ripping the hinges of it off. Inside was something he didn't think he'd expect. A Spartan. He moved towards the super soldier and prodded it with his gun. The suit let out a feminine groan and it shook it's head before getting up.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, soldier. Rank and name please." Taylor asked the Spartan.

"Petty Officer Second Class, Jerome-092."

"Sergeant Taylor, a Spartan huh? Didn't think there was any left." He replied, the last part in a mumble.

"Anyway, we're leaving, we got a nuke to plant and get out of here."

Jerome nodded and got up from his pod, stretching his arms.

"Helena, are all systems online?"

"Yes, we're ready to go." came the AIs response.

Taylor nodded and motioned for the need of a grapple.

The tool whizzed from the Spartan's belt and latched into the pavement farther from the ODSTs. The now squad of six retracted their grapple cords, pulling themselves back onto the warehouse floor.

"Naga! Get a Phantom ready, Tyrone, set this and time it for fifteen minutes once I give the order!" Taylor's voice barked as he threw the HAVOK towards Tyrone who caught it.

Tyrone moved to the side wall and activated the bonding strips on the bottom on the black half sphere.

The Phantom wizzed to life and Taylor gave the order for everyone to get on, and for Tyrone to start the countdown. The orders were followed and the African American hopped into the Phantom last before setting the bomb for 15:00.

Naga accelerated the thrusters, the plasma turrets blowing a hole though a wall. The Phantom speed away into the night as the countdown hit 00:00, and the city blew.

* * *

John had been driving the entire night, stopping when the sky became laden with ships. He floored the petal again and continued down the dirt road. A screeching noise emanated from nowhere and a Flood Tank Form erupted from the ground. John quickly grabbed and jerked the E-brake, turning to the side quick and assuming a roll as the 'Hog tipped from the speed it had been going. It landed upwards but John had been thrown from the vehicle. He scrambled to his feet and stared at the Tank Form which hadn't moved since.

"Ah, I see you've finally arrived here, Spartan. It seems you arrived and..intact." Gravemind's voice rumbled throughout the Tank as it turned to face John.

"I did, and it seems you survived also, what, steal a ship before we blew the Ark?" was John's response.

"Actually yes, a Covenant CCS-Class Battle-cruiser." Gravemind replied, chuckling. "Well for now Spartan, I bid you farewell!" The Tank form screeched before disappearing back into the ground. John shook his head clear. The Flood he'd been fighting against had been the same, but wait, Cortana had said the Flood had been on the planet for a while.

"Cortana, is it possible that there is two Graveminds?"

"Y-Yes, it is possible, but why would the one on this planet wait for another to show up?" she replied, the ending to only herself.

John climbed back into the Warthog and took off once again, yet several ships seemed to appear instantly above them in the atmosphere.

The fleet seemed to consist of around three hundred ships, the smaller ones resembling Frigates and Destroyers. The one leading them though was huge and even made Cortana gasp at it.

"That! That is a UNSC ship! A Phoenix-class Colony Ship! It looks heavily refitted, its been made into the home Fleet's Capital Ship!"

* * *

"So Jerome, how're you alive?" Taylor asked, curiosity playing in his eyes.

Jerome sighed and leaned back in the seat he was positioned in. "I was first deployed to help Arcadian civilians escape, but we linked with the UNSC ship, the _Spirit of Fire_. From there, we followed the Covenant to a Forerunner Shield World, a world where one would be safe of the Halo Arrays. We destroyed a Proto-Gravemind, me and my team, Alice, and Douglas. The Covenant were planning to activate a Forerunner fleet, but our leader Sergeant Forge sacrificed himself to detonate our Slipspace drive, and destroyed the sun inside of the Shield World, inside the World was where the Fleet was. We escaped, the _Spirit_, he didn't make it, but we did. He was the one who killed the previous Arbiter. We were recently found two weeks ago and debriefed. I've been given orders to hook up with ODSTs on the surface of Doisac, so have my squad mates. Poor John, I doubt he's dead, he's probably floating in space somewhere." Jerome finished, with a chuckle at the end.

Taylor nodded and laughed also.

"O.K Jerome, lets hook up with any of your squad mates and get to it." Taylor pulled a M7S and M6C/SOCOM from behind him and handed to the Spartan who graciously took them, his own weapons being lost in his free fall.

A burst of static cut through Taylor and Jerome's comms units.

"Jerome..pst...This is...pst...Alice...pst...Hooked up...pst...with...pst...squad of...pst...ODSTs...opst...outside of a just recent blown city...pst...we're heading south...pst...Looking for...pst...Evac...pst...I've made contact...pst...with...pst...Douglas...pst...He's doing the...pst...same...pst...only to..pst...the North..pst...of..pst..the city."

"Ten-four, Alice, we're going to pick Douglas up first, then you, get your men ready!" Jerome replied, cutting the channel.

Taylor nodded, "Naga, keep heading North! We got some more buddies to pick up!" Naga gave a nod and swung the Phantom to the left, where Jerome's NAV Marker was leading to Douglas.

The Phantom swerved to the marker and dodged a rocket.

"Douglas, this is Jerome on-board the Phantom, stand down! Are there any survivors with you?" Jerome ordered to the ground side Spartan.

Douglas' deep and raspy voice came back through the comms unit. "I have two survivors, sir." Taylor motioned for Naga to activate the gravity lift. The Phantom hummed and the lift opened, the gravity beam pulling up the two ODSTs and Spartan-042, Douglas.

Jerome and Douglas brought two fingers to their mouths and swiped them across in a smile. Both nodded and Jerome looked to Taylor, who in turn looked to Naga. Naga nodded back and turned the Phantom around, the drop ship going full speed back over the blown city, towards Alice's position.

Naga's radar quickly picked up two Phantoms closing in on them.

"Sir, two Phantoms inbound!" Naga yelled over the squad comm.

"Everyone, we have two Phantoms on our asses!" Taylor spoke throughout the cabin. Jerome looked to Douglas.

"Got it." Douglas rasped out, clipping his grapple to the edge of the lift.

"Wha-"

"Naga, please open the lift." Jerome cut Taylor off and Naga followed the order. The lift opened and Douglas dropped down. He took aim on the first Phantom and fired. Four rockets flew from the launcher, impacting on the drop ship, causing it to lose control and smash into the other Phantom. Their Phantom then opened fire, plasma turrets shooting and ripping through the purple hull. The two ships went down in balls of blue fire.

Jerome moved to the lift and helped pull Douglas back in.

"Damn, you STILL have that old modified launcher?" Mumbled Jerome as he shook his head.

Douglas nodded, "Four barreled, either shooting single, or all four at once." Taylor and Tyrone whistled at the explanation of the launcher and Naga closed the lift once Douglas was safely inside.

"Sir, we've reached the area." Naga growled out, once again lowering down the gravity lift.

Down below them, one Spartan and an ODST were under fire.

Jerome winked three red acknowledgment lights and Alice fell back, the ODST slowly coming. The shock trooper being too slow and getting mowed down by Spiker rounds. The screams tore through the heads of the ODSTs on-board the Phantom. Alice made it into the gravity lift and quickly ascended. The Phantom quickly shot higher into the air once Alice was aboard.

The now complete Spartan team followed the Spartan Smile Gesture from before and everyone sat down.

Taylor stood up and walked over to the three Spartans.

"Hello all of you. I'm Sergeant Taylor, Jerome has already introduced himself, though I don't know the rest of your names nor ranks."

Douglas stood up first, his raspy voice seeming to bark out his name and rank. "Douglas-042, Petty Officer Second Class." He sat back down and Alice stood up.

Her feminine voice rang throughout the drop ship. "Alice-130, Petty Officer Second Class." She sat back down after wards.

Taylor nodded and pulled off his helmet, the visor returning to normal before it had been polarized.

"We've already destroyed once city, but lost a large part of our force in a raid. As of now, we're heading to an Orbital Shipyard to halt production of ships. Note, we DO NOT have another nuke, we're going to blast the shipyard to hell with it's own ships. By blowing a reactor on the largest ship we can find."

A chorus of "Yes sir!" rang throughout the purple drop ship before they sped into the atmosphere and towards the looming giant shipyard on the other side of the planet.


	8. Shipyard

Woohoo! Alright guys, ODST is OUT. Firefight, and VISR are awesome, so are the flashbacks. Besides those three things though, it was a disappointment. Anyway, information from the game will start to pop up, last chapter some did also so time to get rolling!

I don't own Halo :3

* * *

John cut the 'Hog as it neared a military outpost, not wanting to risk being found. He jumped from it and landed with a thud, dust kicking up. He stretched and nodded to himself before he took off in a run towards the city.

The only thing indicating John was running towards the base. The only thing letting them know he was coming was the pounding of heavily armored feet on the ground. John's eyes easily saw through the darkness and a wall came into view. He pushed more power into the run and jumped, clearing the twenty foot high wall easily enough. John was met with a steel wall and he eagerly smashed his fingers into the metal, using it as a hold. He climbed the structure until he was on top of it, using the Stanchion to sight around. The sights fell on a Gold Colored Pan-whatever, he'd forgotten the name, there was four more the same Color.

His augmented hearing picked up the conversation and he decided to listen in.

"As we all know, the Infection is spreading rapidly, and with the Bags of Meat still running around, we're in trouble."

The four others agreed and they all took a drink of something and laughed, a shrill laugh. John sighed. This was going to be a LONG night.

* * *

The Phantom's long range scanners were picking up the mega structure. The shipyard, like EVERY Covenant object was purple and bulbous. Douglas rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles as the mega structure was into clear view.

"Naga, max speed." came Taylor's voice, his helmet off and depolarized. Naga nodded and the ship suddenly lurched and the ODSTs helmets snapped on, seals holding them in place.

"Sure ain't like going in from a pod is it, Tay?" Kain laughed out. Taylor nodded and he smiled, his plate still not polarized.

Taylor wandered into a corner and placed a hand to his helmet, nodding and talking into his helmet.

Taylor was in his VISR Comms unit, talking with Commander Landers.

"Sergeant, we know your squad's job correct? Blow the place to bits!"

"Yes sir, we know the job." Jan had answered back and the Commander nodded.

"Good hunting Kid." The line cut and Taylor moved back to the group.

"Alright Kiddies, time to move!" Taylor barked, faceplate along with everyone's polarizing. The Phantom docked into the structure and radar picked up two blips. Two grunts. K'aido grabbed his SOCOM and the door hissed open. The Grunts peered inside, but instead of being pushed aside, two 12.7x40mm M225 Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive/.50 Magnum Rounds lodged in their brains. The squad moved and split. Taylor, Jerome, Kain, and Naga. Alice and Douglas took the rest, the three squads moving into different hallways.

Jan had selected a point to meet up, one of the side docks where two Destroyers where docked that he had obtained from the terminal in the room they docked. They moved deeper into the structure.

Douglas' group was the first to come into contact with enemies. The five man squad consisting of Douglas, K'aido, Naga, and the two ODSTs Douglas saved had run into a room of Baby Kongs, with Grunts and Jackals also inside, out numbering them three to one. Douglas pulled the Rocket Launcher from his back and fired to the back of the medium sized room, killing off a two Brutes, three Grunts, and a Jackal. Douglas switched the Launcher for the M7S he was given and fired, the rounds tearing into the Covies. Naga had already been firing before Douglas had fired, his Carbine firing off shots of radiation, and K'aido firing his SOCOM into the heads of anything he could get to.

"Taylor, this is Douglas. We've run into Covies, they're all dead, along with one of the ODSTs, none of yours though." Douglas gruff voice cut through Taylor's comm. Taylor acknowledged the death and added it to his list of KIA. Naga moved to a locked door and cut into it, opening the door. The door led to a room that looked like a cafeteria except it seemed to be bathed in purple light. The group moved to the right wall and crept along it. A whine was heard as a Beam Rifle's shot almost struck Kain had Jerome not pulled him away. The Jackal shrieked and two roars were heard as two identical Brute Chieftains jumped from the high rise the Jackal was previously on. They cleared several tables as they landed, Gravity Hammers smashing into the floor and ripping into it, sending tables flying. One opened its mouth to roar and was met with a Spartan Laser shot.

"SHUT UP." Kain yelled, charging again as the one that was shot was ripped to pieces, a hole being blown in its torso along with it flying back and into a wall. The Brute charged forward and Jerome rushed to met it, grabbing the hammer and wrestling it out of the Brutes hands with little difficultly, seeing as it seemed to be confused as to where his ally went. Jerome pulled the hammer back like a bat and swung, the Brute's shields activated and it pulled its forearms to his chest, the guards and shield absorbing the blow but sending the Brute back somewhat. Jerome jumped forward again, bringing the Hammer down in a downward crush. The Brute hopped away and picked up a table, throwing it at Jerome. The Spartan moved the gravity-controlling hammer towards the table, the effects of the hammer deflecting it.

The Brute ripped off its first forearm guard and revealed a modified energy sword, held onto its massive wrist by a band of metal. Everyone blinked in surprise. A Brute using an Elite weapon? Unheard of! Jerome thinks nothing of it and charges again, the Brute following suit. At the last second Jerome released the hammer, the blade of energy slicing the handle in two. Jerome quickly pulled the SOCOM from his hip and shoved it under the Brute's chin, unloading the clip in its head. The Brute fell back dead, purple and red blood, along with brain matter now decorating the floor.

Jerome moved back to Taylor, Kain, and Naga letting out a sigh. Kain whistled and Naga opened the door leading away from the room.

The four man team ran down the halls, feet pounding into the metal.

Meanwhile, Alice and her little troop of Tyrone and an unnamed ODST had came into a large opening with a large amount of enemies. A Brute Major shouted an order and a hail of spike grenades flew towards the three soldiers. Tyrone and Alice rolled from the spikes but the other ODST was too slow and was stuck by one, and it exploded, along with three other. The spikes filled him up, making him a human porcupine.

Tyrone winced and shouldered his Rocket Launcher, firing the two missiles in succession and Alice duel wielding the M7S and the SOCOM, blowing heads in and littering bodies with bullets. A roar echoed through the room as a Brute War Chieftain burst through the door at the opposite end, a Fuel God launcher on his shoulder. Tyrone reloaded and quickly aimed his launcher, firing a rocket at the Chieftain. The large Brute turned and fired its own launcher, blowing the missile up and sending two more rods of radiation at Tyrone. Tyrone lunged for cover, one of the rods missing, the second hitting his shin. He screamed in agony as his leg from the knee down was vaporized, only a cauterized stump for his right leg. Alice scooped a plasma grenade from the ground and activated it and threw it at the Fuel Rod launcher, sticking it on the trigger guard. The Brute threw it away and was sent back as the explosion of the remaining rods and the grenades detonation was large enough to rip a fully healthy Hunter pair apart.

Tyrone was behind the cover, groaning in agony and clutching his leg. Alice fired the M6S into the now nude Brute's head who screamed and died as the rounds penetrated its skull. The Spartan moved to the cover of Tyrone, checking his vitals as he had passed out from pain. He took his launcher and slung it over her back, grabbing his M7S and clipping the M6S to her thigh plate. She moved his body into a storage locker and placed a beacon on it.

"This is Alice, Tyrone is down, placing a beacon on his location." She spoke through the groups linked comms and moved on, rushing down the forward hallway.

Blue affirmation lights blinked twice, signaling a yes. The entire squad pushed through their reflective hallways, purple light bathing everything purple. Three doors opened at once, leading the squad into a large dome made of the purple material, nothing except for the three groups in it.

"Hey! What the he-" Kain yelled but was cut off as a chilling laugh echoed through the room.

"Hello....Demons, Scum..." A large Brute descended from the ceiling by gravity lift, the Fist of Rukt on its back.

"I am Tarackum! The Third Chieftain of the Jiralhanae! Prepare for your demise!" Traumatic shouted in his deep, gravelly voice, roaring loading as two War Chieftains descended from the roof likewise.

"Aw shit." Taylor mumbled, holding his M7S in defense.

"Jerome, Alice, everyone! Go! I got these idiots!" Douglas shouted holding his rocket launcher up on his shoulder, determination and pride ringing in his voice.

"But D-" Alice started to shout but was cut off.

"No buts dammit! Go!" Douglas shouted, firing off one rocket towards the Chieftian of the Brutes. The large Brute swung his hammer gently and the rocket deflected and exploded midair, next to the group of Brutes. The remaining group of ODSTs and Spartans took off and into a side corridor labled in writing "Docks."

"So, whos first?" Douglas grunted and reloaded his weapon.

* * *

Short chapter, by the time I got to righting this I felt pretty sick so I decided to make it short.


End file.
